Daffodil 2011(Aug-Dec)

[Chile]

Good job on passing up temptation.

Doesn't fitting into the smaller clothes feel wonderful?! I've already hauled 4 small plastic grocery bags of clothes to the thrift store since I recommitted in late May. Can't wait to get rid of all the "fat clothes" in various sizes and just have one final size.

[Daffodil]

Day 4:
B-Green smoothie with strawberries, banana and a ton of spinach with water. The strawberries were to the icky point and waste not, want not, so in they went.

L-Leftover red potatoes(3) with leftover kidney beans, and organic corn. Plus SPGM as usual. (I am addicted to it)

S-Pineapple chocolate ice cream. Frozen canned pineapple in own juice, frozen, then blended with water and cocoa powder in the food processor. Very good!

D-Whole grain shell pasta with no salt added canned tomatoes, left over cannellini beans and brussel sprouts and SPGM all over it all.

Had iced gingerbread spice herb tea throughout the day. Tastes just like gingerbread cookies! Stevia as the sweetener. Too good! I have the MrCoffee tea maker and make my own iced tea every other day.
Only 26 more days to go.
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I am learning as I go that my brain doesn't always want to cooperate with me. I gave in so much in the past and could never get anywhere near a 30 day challenge whatsoever. Now I am just taking it one meal at a time, as that is the only thing that works. There is nothing in the house to mess me up, so at least I am safe at home.
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As for clothes starting to fit ever so slowly, that is the best motivation right now. I am here first for weight loss, second for health. Since my health will greatly improve once the weight is gone, then I win both ways. Plus all those clothes I have, many brand new that have been waiting for me to wear them. Getting into the mind set is the only way someone will succeed. So if you want to save your life in more ways than one, you have to make it through the first 30 days and I do believe the rest will follow.

I will be adding outside exercise soon, once my iPod battery is re-charged and this heat will go down somewhat. It's still 103 out there as I type this at 8:50pm. Too much.

[Daffodil]

Day 5.
B-Oatmeal with cinnamon and a little maple syrup.

S- 4 skinny FinCrisp whole grain caraway crackers
Apple Pear

L-Brown rice with Brussel Sprouts, Butter Peas, no-salt added diced tomatoes with SPGM and Nutritional Yeast.

S-Couple of Marys gone crackers plain with a dab of raw almond butter.

D-Steamed red potatoes, no salt added tomatoes and butter peas with garlic mix only.

S-honeydew melon.

You all might think I have great resolve, but it is really difficult when the brain wants something else and I won't give in to it. It's like I am fighting with myself!
Also, a pair of sweat pants I bought from Goodwill not long ago are getting looser. Good thing I started buying used clothes in my transition so it won't hurt so much financially when I have to donate them probably back to the same store again!

I do not remember it being this hard when I stoked myself up for this 10 years ago. Why is it so hard now? It almost feels like the brain is a weird separate entity in my head that wants what it wants, and I fight with it to eat what I have to eat and not the intense pleasure inducing donuts it keeps wanting. Sure when first eating one, it's superb..but a half hour later, I pass out from the sugar overload, and feel like crud when I wake up from it another half hour later.
Am sticking to this. But man, it is hard!!! I am a little worried about my birthday dinner out 2 days after this challenge is over. I know I won't go overboard on junk or anything, I just dont' want to mess up the great weight loss i am experiencing now. It's incredible and this is without exercise besides housework and hot flashes.

[Chile]

Many of us have found that reading "The End of Overeating" by Kessler helps understand the intense cravings for modern day foods that are manufactured to hit the pleasure circuits. If you think about what you're craving, you may find it features the addictive components of fat, sugar, and/or salt. The book was a real eye-opener for me, especially the parts in it which talked about how there are actually conferences, research, and journals on specifically how to create the super-palatable foods that will get people to buy their products or eat in their restaurants. That in itself gives me more resolve not to give them my business!

[Daffodil]

Day 6
B-Oatmeal with cinnamon, sour cherries and banana. Maple syrup to offset those sour cherries!

S-Apple pear.

L-Steamed red potatoes, steamed broccoli and butter peas with my garlic mixture.

S-Couple of whole grain crackers, fat free, plain.

D-Edamame, spinach, corn, red bell peppers with some whole grain pasta. And SPGM and nutritional yeast.
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I think I have that book by David Kessler on my wish list at Amazon. I suspected long ago that the food manufacturers devised ways to keep people addicted to certain foods. Our brains sure like that junk. But our bodies don't like the after effects. Most of my cravings are these 2 things: Potato chips and donuts.

[janluvs2heel]

Day 6
B-Oatmeal with cinnamon, sour cherries and banana. Maple syrup to offset those sour cherries!

S-Apple pear.

L-Steamed red potatoes, steamed broccoli and butter peas with my garlic mixture.

S-Couple of whole grain crackers, fat free, plain.

D-Edamame, spinach, corn, red bell peppers with some whole grain pasta. And SPGM and nutritional yeast.
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I think I have that book by David Kessler on my wish list at Amazon. I suspected long ago that the food manufacturers devised ways to keep people addicted to certain foods. Our brains sure like that junk. But our bodies don't like the after effects. Most of my cravings are these 2 things: Potato chips and donuts.

Amy,

I bought the book on 1/2 bay, got a really good deal on it.

[Chile]

Try the microwave potato chip recipe that's floating around here somewhere. For doughnuts, I used to make Byranna Clark Grogan's baked donut recipe. Several of her recipes are in the search results here. I actually used to make chocolate ones for my DH to take with him in a baggie when he did long distance biking and running. They were easy to eat while moving and gave him good energy.

[Daffodil]

Day 7. 1 Week done! I'm not totally insane yet!

B-Oatmeal with cinnamon, banana and sour cherries. And of course some maple syrup. I should finish those cherries by tomorrow finally!

S-Pluot

L-Butter peas, whole grain caraway crackers with fat free hummus.

D-Steamed potatoes on fresh spinach, (lots of it) and also on top of that edamame, corn, red bell peppers and broccoli(all steamed.) And of course my famous SPGM. I don't think I can ever get tired of it.

I find I am getting bored with the same old foods after a week. I am going to start doing some casseroles and soups for next week. Plus my walking for at least 45 minutes or longer should really get that fat moving out. As someone else used to say on here, lardbirds. lol Who was that?

Plus, I finally survived a walk outside without falling. My left leg almost buckled once, but caught it. Avoiding hills for the time being. 46 minute walk.
I may have to wear my flexible leg brace, but it hampers my walking abilities. And I think it looks stupid over my pants.

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As Homer Simpson would say... "Mmmmmmm donuts!" lol. You know those baked one's sound really good. Several years ago I bought a donut baking kit that has never seen a donut baked in them yet. I was waiting for some veganized healthy one's if they existed. So thank you very much Chile for the links! Bryanna Clark Grogan was a big favorite of mine on the old vegsource mcdougall boards. She sure can put together excellent recipes! She is one of the people that got me so interested in vegetarian foods way back when. Plus of course Susan from fatfreevegan.com.

[Chile]

One week down! I like a LOT of variety in my diet so I have to constantly change up what I'm making. It's why I've got 60 plus spices/herbs on hand and make a lot of different condiments from scratch. Sometimes just changing the seasoning and preparation of the same foods completely changes the meal and minimizes boredome.

When I first started McDougalling, there was not the HUGE number of vegan healthy cookbooks available that there are now. Grogan's Almost Fatfree cookbook was one of the first ones I bought, although she uses a lot of tofu which I can't use. At one point, my DH and I were looking to relocate out of Arizona and considered Denham Island where she lives. Sadly, we couldn't swing it financially and might not have even qualified for emigration to Canada, but I had fantasies about going to the monthly vegan potluks they have there that she attends. Can you even imagine?!

[Rosey]

One week down! I like a LOT of variety in my diet so I have to constantly change up what I'm making. It's why I've got 60 plus spices/herbs on hand and make a lot of different condiments from scratch. Sometimes just changing the seasoning and preparation of the same foods completely changes the meal and minimizes boredome.

When I first started McDougalling, there was not the HUGE number of vegan healthy cookbooks available that there are now. Grogan's Almost Fatfree cookbook was one of the first ones I bought, although she uses a lot of tofu which I can't use. At one point, my DH and I were looking to relocate out of Arizona and considered Denham Island where she lives. Sadly, we couldn't swing it financially and might not have even qualified for emigration to Canada, but I had fantasies about going to the monthly vegan potluks they have there that she attends. Can you even imagine?!

Yeah I switch up the seasons a lot myself and when you see me put bbq sauce there are 4 different flavors I put in my food.

I just found out there are Monthly potlucks right here close to me that hubby and I are talking about going too.

[Daffodil]

Day 8.
B- Oatmeal with cinnamon and banana.

S-Banana

L-1 cup kidney beans
Couple of Wasa crackers with homemade hummus

S-Apple Pear

D-Fat free hash browns cooked in low sodium veggie broth with assorted veggies all steamed: broccoli, snap peas, green beans, carrots, water chestnuts, onion, red bell pepper, edamame, corn, spinach. With SPGM and nutritional yeast.
I had several bags of frozen veggies with just a little left in each one, so I dumped them all in a bowl and steamed them.

For some reason, something that I am eating is making my joints or bones hurt in my feet! I wonder if it's the edamame(soybeans)? It's not the veggie broth, since I had the pain yesterday and only had the broth with dinner tonight. But I've been eating a "soycotash" mixture from Trader Joes that has edamame, corn and red bell peppers.
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I will do an elimination thing, and not eat the soybeans for a few days to see if the pain dissipates. I sure hope it's not the soybeans, because I just also bought a tub of tofu to use in a big vat of soup I will be making in the next day or two. The package on the soycotash did not say organic soybeans. I really worry about all the chemical processing that soybeans go through. I do NOT want hexane in my food! Yucko!
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This challenge is really hard. I will experiment and make some new dishes. It's been really hot where I live, so I was just trying to toss together more simple meals, because I don't want it to get any hotter inside the house, cooking long meals, which results in more a/c usage. I really hate living on a fixed income that makes us miss out on the more fun things in life. It would be nice to go see a movie sometime, or go see a concert.
And most of all, it would be great to be able to buy all of my fruits and veggies organic! I wish.

[Chile]

I'm allergic to soy, even organic. Omitting all soy from my diet for 5 days (doing the Mary's Mini potato diet) and then having some soy milk helped me discover this. I'd already known tofu was a problem but was surprised by the soy milk.

Yep, change is hard, especially to something as basic as what we eat. And it's also hard because we eat at least three times a day so we're confronting having to figure out new healthy foods to eat all the time. However, you'll get in a groove, find some dishes that you really like and repeat those (or variations) frequently. It will get easier!

[Daffodil]

Day 9.
B- Banana

S-Apple Pear

L-Whole grain pasta, with lots of steamed broccoli florets and kidney beans. With SPGM and Nutritional Yeast.

S-Pluot

D-Oatmeal with cinnamon.
Yes, I had my breakfast for dinner. I just didn't feel like a big meal. Too hot still and the humidity is back again.

The pain in my stomach/back stayed with me most of today and that also contributed to eating a lot less. I do think it is the soy from yesterday and I will be eliminating it completely. Will wait about 6 months to see if I feel better and other symptoms disappear. If so, I will never use it again most likely. But I will have to find a substitute for the miso. I love that stuff.
I figure I will just cook the tofu up and give it to my husband and just not buy it again. He really likes it. I always worried that he might grow breasts using it. lol j/k

[Chile]

My hubby likes tofu, too, so he usually orders it if we eat at a Chinese restaurant. I don't cook it as I never really learned how and I always sample my dishes while cooking to get the seasoning right.

Natural food stores sometimes stock non-soy based misos. The one I can remember off the top of my head is made with chickpeas. I'd love to try them but I also have problems with koji, the rice-based agent used for the fermentation, so I can't. Food allergies and sensitivities suck!

[Daffodil]

Day 10. 9-10-11.
Messed up at last. Was out most of the day, had to take our Cleo kitty to the vet for a shaving to get rid of all her extensive fur matts. We left before I had a chance to eat anything, since my husband had another appt.
So, out and about, starving!! I had a choice of fast food or donuts...I took the donuts. Nothing in my area that even serves up healthy food. We have to travel to the other side of town for that. Pathetic.
Anyway, so no donuts in the house. So that part is good.

After we got home, I had:
an apple, apple pear.
D-A big bowl of steamed red potatoes with chreese sauce on it.

S-couple of dried pineapple rings.

So do I start over now that I messed up? I think I should. Maybe I should just drop out of this challenge.


I wish that godawful pain from my abdominal area/intestines/back would stop already! I do believe it's from the soy. I had some "Better than milk" soymilk that I mix with water from the powder mix, and it seems to be coming from that first, and the soybeans second. So I am guessing the soy beans may have been processed using hexane and other nasty chemicals. Will knock them off my list for awhile. I will see if the tofu does it, otherwise, that goes too. Only thing left will be the miso in the fridge. I guess according to some people we can eat some things for awhile them develop an allergy. I think we do that because the food manufacturers change their recipes and they are messing us up! Aggravating.
Now that I fell off plan, I think I will start over next month. If this pain ever dissipates, I think I will feel better too.